On topic, I don't think they'll ever truly collide. What could happen is something like PS Now to where "consoles" are streaming game platforms that could be played on a range of devices. I highly doubt that will happen for a long time though. Every company is in their own best interests, and 1st parties make a ton from software sales.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
With Consoles Becoming More Like PCs and PCs Becoming More User Friendly...
- Thread starter Hux1ey
- Start date
PC's and consoles offer different user experiences despite having some similarities. I am not personally interested in sugar coating the idea that paying twice as much money for a PC, buying a wireless gamepad adapter then buying a gamepad to use it with on top of that then purchasing even more items for a solution to stream audio wirelessly to my headphones just to my just to play games that may or may not require an hour of tinkering to work that still requires me to manually turn on my machine and navigate into Steam picture mode and then reaching for a controller just to access my content which I have to download in full before I can even play the game since physical PC games are no longer a thing, as a reason to negate the role of consoles or challenge the idea tired old argument of their plug and play value. I don't think that kind of user experience negates or easily mimics a cheap box that is able to do all that without issue and be booted into a game touch of a button. The majority of my games are indeed plug and play too that don't require firmware or updates, updates are optional and I can update my firmware 300times and still be into my game faster. Consoles are not as plug and play as they were before, sure but they are still more accessible than PC's especially from the couch. Yes I know you can use your PC from the couch too but it's not the same, applications are optimized on console for a couch experience, they are simply not for PC and the user experience is undeniably more awkward and troublesome and expensive if someone for some odd reasons wants the full console couch experience via PC.
I personally don't game on PC to seek a console experience and vice versa. I sometimes want to throw my laptop aside and boot into Nioh with my headphones in, other times I want to play Overwatch on my PC while transferring family photos to my ipod with a ebook in the background I can go back to reading after I finish playing games. PC's and consoles just offer different user experiences and fulfill different needs and I don't think they negate each other despite whatever similarities people who clearly don't do both, think they have in common.
I personally don't game on PC to seek a console experience and vice versa. I sometimes want to throw my laptop aside and boot into Nioh with my headphones in, other times I want to play Overwatch on my PC while transferring family photos to my ipod with a ebook in the background I can go back to reading after I finish playing games. PC's and consoles just offer different user experiences and fulfill different needs and I don't think they negate each other despite whatever similarities people who clearly don't do both, think they have in common.
Icedburden
Member
It will never ever happen though. I can already see idiots on YouTube and polygon 'adjusting' the settings, so it either overheats or runs games at 10fps.
Dangansona
Member
That's what I was referring to. Sorry if my wording was unclear. I get to listen to Giant Bomb talk about their experience launching PC games for the first time every week and that's a big no thanks for me.
Overarching friend and communication systems are by far the best thing about consoles IMO. I doubt there will ever be a solution to that on PC though when every game or publisher needs its own client.
Aztechnology
Member
Alienware made one and nobody cared. It wasn't powerful enough for PC fans and was too complicated for console fans...
It was too expensive for really weak internals and no ability to upgrade. If Microsoft did it, it would be a different story.
We have things like Discord, that absolutely blow any console friend/comm system out of the water. Not sure what the issue is, there's tons that are constantly competing and adding new great features too.
If someone still make it sounds like a hassle launching a PC game they're dumbdumbs.
If you don't care, most games auto detect and in worst case you have to select resolution and set whichever preset you would like (if you even care to click the arrows left or right between low and high).
Aaaand you're set. Literally under a minute and you never have to look at the thing called "options" again.
The issue is that if the current Microsoft did it, they probably wouldn't let you run arbitrary x86 software on it.
Fast Forward
Member
Even then, in regards to console games having a "sacrifice in visuals," graphics have evolved so much over the last 20-30 years that even something like the Switch, which has more in common with a PS3 than a PS4, let alone a high end gaming PC, still has games that look pretty damn great in 2017, like MK8D.
LelouchZero
Member
The real reason I made the thread
I thought of making something similar a couple of months ago LOL!
The computer/tech illiteracy of some people is quite unfortunate and intriguing. I remember going to someone's house and they were playing Assassin's Creed 3 on their PS3 with an AV cable on a Full HD TV, I asked them why they weren't using a HDMI cable and they told me they didn't know what it was.
Starlightmuse
Member
As long as I can't play all of Sony and Nintendo exclusives on a PC I'll always buy consoles.
I have had Discord almost since it was first introduced, and I use it pretty much every time I play on my PC. You don't need to explain anything about its features to me. "Friend/comms" doesn't mean just voice chat. It's a convenience carrying one friend list, messaging system, event calendar on top of voice chat and such across everything on a system.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
PCs are becoming more user friendly?
He he. No.
He he. No.
Hawk269
Member
Agree. I think giving console gamers too many options as far as settings like AF, AA, Resolution, Shadow Detail, Texture Detail, View Distance would be disastrous for many console gamers. There are PC gamers that suffer from constant fiddling to get the best experience. I myself tend to do this with my PC games where I am constantly running a frame rate counter to maintain 60fps and adjusting settings and looking for what I can live with. I think most console gamers would not want that. The benefit of console gaming is launching the game and playing, not fiddling with settings.
I think some of the easy things that some Sony PS4 PRO games have offered is already testing some console games as they switch from one setting to another to find the sweet spot.
I personally, prefer the pop-in and play that consoles offer. Then again, once I have a PC game dialed in it is just pop in and play unless a patch or a new driver messes with something and then it is back to finding the sweet spot.
I don't really see it as a "unified friend list" though. A Playstation allows me to have a Playstation friend list, an Xbox allows me to have an Xbox friend list, Steam allows me to have a Steam friend list, Uplay allows me to have a Uplay friend list, and so on and so forth. Nothing here is truly unified.
A third party program is actually the only option which allows me to seamlessly communicate with all my friends regardless of which platform they might currently be using.
Soooo they're becoming more complicated then?
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
No. They're basically exactly the same.
Microsoft has attempted to make the process of buying and playing a game more user friendly and console like, but they're not doing a good job of it.
capylikesgames
Banned
Nah, they wont. Stuff like incremental upgrades (PS4 Pro) and graphics settings on the console side are optional. Yeah, they aren't really "plug 'n play" anymore, but they are easier to set up than a PC by a fair amount. Which is OK! The beauty of the PC platform comes in individually tinkering every experience to your liking. While some people like messing around and seeing what works, others don't really care, and just want to get to the meat of it. Both cater to completely different audiences, and I doubt they'll be intersecting anytime soon, if ever.
Aztechnology
Member
Exactly the same as what, last year? They've become immensely less complicated than they were even five years ago thanks mainly to changes in software. Hardware is about the same, but it's basically been adult legos for a long time. Now you can usually buy a pre-built on deals for less than the parts often.
Bingo.
IMO if consoles keep trying to be PCs and ditch the convenience factor they gave going for them, there won't be a lot of reasons to own a console over a PC.
I assume you never tried to configure EMS or XMS for MS-DOS games in the early 90s, or sorted through the graphics driver incompatibilities of the late 90s/early 00s, or tried to use a controller as your primary interface in the late 00s/early 10s.
PCs are getting easier to use all the time.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
People keep saying this but it's never going to happen. It's like saying that home media PCs are going to overtake Roku/Chromecast/Apple TV.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
I actually did do some of that stuff back then. But gaming wasn't mainstream back then nor was it attempting to be. So only those familiar with DIY fixes were involved anyway, or you taught yourself as you went.
But in that's decade, it hasn't really changed much if at all. Is it easier than it was 20 years ago? Yeah. 10 years ago? Not really. I still wouldn't call it user friendly either.
Thats not really true. PCs have never been easier to get into.
You can get pre-built ones, both factory and custom for low price now or build it easy yourself with a bazillion guides.
Actually using the PC is the same as a console, press power and the rest is self explanatory.
You can even have everything auto update if you want, apply recommended settings (performace--everything in between--quality) for games by itself with nvidia based on system you have (no idea if AMD got the same) as pre-sets become available (they do fairly quick).
10 years ago almost every PC port was a crapshoot, Steam was still crap, there wasn't an auto-optimize button from Geforce experience etc.
Console manufacturers have their own social networks, whereas it's very common in games that I play for each game to have their own separate network. Maybe for those that don't play a bunch of MOBAs or MMOs it's not as big of a deal. I'd really like to connect with some friends that I had pre-Discord but having old ingame accounts and Ventrilo names doesn't do me much good. Ones that I know still play games. This is a very specific issue to me, and I have never tried to put it off as anything else, but it is still a matter of convenience that consoles have a leg up over PCs on from my perspective.
I have been playing on PC since long before PSN/XBL/NN were a thing, and I am very well versed in different communication methods. I routinely go out to sea for 5 to 9 months at a time and I'll lose track of some people each time. Obviously it's not as big of an issue in the last 2 years or so, since Discord seems to be stabilizing as a default, but it's an issue that I still have.
Also, I consider XBL it's own entity, same as PSN, and PC on the whole. If I used Steam for all my games it would be different, but that's not reality.
Yup.
A lot of Square Enix's content hits PlayStation first, and PC later, and in regards to Kingdom Hearts, not at all.
When that content, as well as Sony's content (TLOU, R&C, etc.) are available day 1 on PC, I'll switch.
PsihoPerihelion
Member
I don't want to deal with a PC, but also I don't want to play at 30 fps. Everything looks shit at 30 fps and it makes me dizzy. I'm not one of those guys who says 30 fps is unplayable, but I do believe it looks bad on modern TVs with the added blur from low response times.
I find owning those consoles in addition to a PC to be the best option. I understand not being interested in it, or being on a tight budget but the investment isn't that much bigger than a console if you buy low/midrange parts. You'll still be able to play most games(maybe some 4x will give you trouble).
If someone can tolerate playing third party games on consoles(PS4/XB1 and Switch somewhat) it can be quite economical to biuld a low range PC to accompany their consoles allowing them to get benefits from both worlds. I too think PC and consoles together are a great option.
Could've picked a better thread lol. Prey is fantastic on PC.
Almost every PC gamer I know (including me) has at least a PS4 also, but man they hardly get much use!
LukasTaves
Member
I don't get how can anyone say the plug and play factor is gone. I almost never see any games or even the OS updating on my xbone, even for launch day games because they are already installed and patched at time of release, I can now finally turn it on by voice (took a few years but Cortana finally enabled that for Portuguese speakers), I can leave my console off for days and when I'm back the game I was playing was right where I left off (and for online games the game is at least all loaded up). Not to mention that when scorpio comes all I have to do is remove my external HD and plug it on, and all my games will automatically work on this new machine.
I honestly can't see how much more plug and play it could get, perhaps that matchmaking happens in the cloud Ms promised and some how save states for all games even after you open another, but I can't even think of much else.
I honestly can't see how much more plug and play it could get, perhaps that matchmaking happens in the cloud Ms promised and some how save states for all games even after you open another, but I can't even think of much else.
Sword Of Doom
Member
They're fundamentally different, so no
PC being open and console being closed is always to be the fundamental difference.
The point where they "collide" is when someone tries to make an "open" console, probably Microsoft just saying "fuck it" and turning Xbox into a Windows console that runs Win32 applications.
Personally I'd be interested in the idea of someone making a console with closed hardware but totally open software. I think that would be the best compromise between both worlds. You'd still have a setup where games "just work" and nobody has to worry about whether the hardware is strong enough to run games developed for the platform. But at the same time you'd have the total freedom of development you see on PC. I guess homebrew consoles and the Raspberry Pi are basically already this, but it would be interesting to see a big company (perhaps an existing console manufacturer) try it with the backing of AAA games. The problem is they'd have to give up the software revenue cut, or at least much of it.
The point where they "collide" is when someone tries to make an "open" console, probably Microsoft just saying "fuck it" and turning Xbox into a Windows console that runs Win32 applications.
Personally I'd be interested in the idea of someone making a console with closed hardware but totally open software. I think that would be the best compromise between both worlds. You'd still have a setup where games "just work" and nobody has to worry about whether the hardware is strong enough to run games developed for the platform. But at the same time you'd have the total freedom of development you see on PC. I guess homebrew consoles and the Raspberry Pi are basically already this, but it would be interesting to see a big company (perhaps an existing console manufacturer) try it with the backing of AAA games. The problem is they'd have to give up the software revenue cut, or at least much of it.
LukasTaves
Member
They are halfway already. Xbox is a console that runs uwp apps and soon with no curation, save for the store restrictions.
As uwp improves as well support, the abilities of xbone improves with it.
You completely missed the point of his post. He doesn't want to go through the trouble of having built a machine (or have one built for him), purchase his game, install it, then have all sorts of issues arise from it. I've seen posts like this on GAF, too. There are ppl that are desperate to find out what's going on with their game. Why isn't it running at a proper framerate? Why is everything great except some random artifact that shows up everywhere on the screen? Or the biggest case of why isn't it running at all? And some of the same crusaders in here end up not being able to help. Or they can, but the problem is a lot more complex than someone who wants to casually game wants to take on.
Grim Patron
Member
PCs will never be closed!*
https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/859502015935905792
https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/827680115656110081
*if people remember to control MS' bullshit
https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/859502015935905792
https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/827680115656110081
*if people remember to control MS' bullshit